Unstable [2714] - Better Movement, Better Missiles, Better Bang

Hey, Luke here.

Got an update regarding the unstable branch. Which you can access via:

Right Click ATS > Properties > Versions > Unstable

What's up?

Over the last two months we've been working on a heavy overhaul of ships movement. You know how sometimes your Tollies will charge right at a hostile battleship, then as it starts to retreat they get a little timid and scared about chasing after? Every seen a drone kind of just not get in range of a target that's fleeing? Or just rocket out into a weird orbit that doesn't help it? Ever seen a Partell just refuse to continue along this mortal coil and freezer perfectly in place?

Well that's a rather large and annoying issue, and it's been my job to handle movement code for the last eternity of years that we've been working on this game. So let me tell you it's not a trivial problem. There are a lot of unique units in this game that all want to do different things with the same movement code.

Better Ship/Drone Movement.

I breathed a sigh of spancial relief when I finally saw a Sparrow drone perfectly chase and orbit a fleeting target. When I watched an Otorell bear-charge a Harrier and blast it to pieces. When I giggled with glee as Tollies chased and absolutely bullied a set of retreating Cormorants. Something they had always been able to do, but never actually done correctly.

Missile Flight Improvements.

And not only that, but I've given Missiles and rammers a bit of cheaty movement. Missiles can now opt into using "fin force" (I'm sure there's enough dust in the spance) which lets them redirect their velocity towards their target to help them hit rapidly moving and dodging ships (as well as missiles).

Tractor Ships Improvements

Tractors now have a dedicated TRACTOR weapon that intelligently modulates it's pull/push force to keep a target at it's new holdDistance. As well as being smart enough to stop pulling, and not throw themselves into harms way as much.

Tractor ships were meant to be the active and direct counter to long ranged standoff/buildup units such as the various carriers and artillery ships (Cormorant, Noledar, Ospres, Katalosteer) but the application of their pull force was always really dumb and brutish. They just pulled at full force until the thing was within a given range. This just ended up flinging ships into themselves, and making harder targets for their allies to hit. Also our tractors obey Neuton's 3rd law (per Owl's demands) so they also just end up pulling themselves into harms way. The new ones are smarter, have the ability to pull less or even push, and don't throw themselves into the enemy firing line as much.

General Faction Ship Balance

Thanks to Platform Wars, our community hosted skirmish-AI tournament, we've been able to identify some overperforming units and some underperforming ones.

The Vaalkorei have seen their Mediums' build times increased. The heavy Rook made faster to build. As well as many other weapon and unit stat tweaks.

The Kontaalen have seen their Heavies' build times increased for the Katalosteer and Grytes to 90s. Heat was reduced by 33% on the Lantra. While the Otorell gained 0.5 range (50m) and about 100 health. As well as many other weapon and unit stat tweaks.

OK that's it for now, I have to get back to work.

Cheers,
Luke AP